In the wake of political turmoil and protests in Mozambique, Eswatini’s sugar industry has faced disruptions to supply chains and exports and has had to find alternative routes for its products.
Eswatini's sugar industry depends heavily on a terminal at the port of Maputo, Mozambique, to send its raw sugar to the European Union and the United States. This terminal, jointly owned by Eswatini, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, has been vital for the country's sugar industry since the mid-1990s.
Nontobeko Mabuza, with the Eswatini Sugar Association (ESA), warned that the unrest in Mozambique poses a grave threat to Eswatini's exports to regional and European markets.
"The option, however, is for us to move the sugar via the Durban [South Africa] port, but this would come at an additional cost," Mabuza said. "For consistency and safe delivery, our customers might choose to migrate to using the Durban port as the port from which we ship. This would, however, strain the transport infrastructure and potentially, as I said earlier, come at an additional cost, and it would possibly also cause longer turnaround times as the shipments are diverted" from Mozambique to South Africa.
In 2023, the ESA generated $305 million from more than 26,000 tons of sugar exports to the United States and other markets via the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act.
But according to Bhekizwe Maziya, chief executive of the national agriculture marketing board, Mozambique’s instability caused severe traffic congestion and delays at the borders with Eswatini.
What was mainly happening, Maziya said, was closure of the Lebombo border post between South Africa and Mozambique. "So transport had to be rerouted to Eswatini from South Africa and en route to Mozambique. The effects were the congestions at our borders and the delays that were experienced by importers and exporters."
The protests led by opposition presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane, who says he won the recent election, have resulted in a complete shutdown of traffic on Mozambique’s major roads, plus violent confrontations with security forces that have left more than 100 people dead.
Mozambican political activist Solomon Mondlane said the instability could have far-reaching consequences for southern African economies as landlocked countries like Eswatini struggle to find other export routes for their goods.
"With the unrest showing no signs of abating, it is essential for neighboring countries to assess their own trade dependency on Mozambique and identify alternative routes if necessary to mitigate potential disruptions," Mondlane said.
Political analyst Sibusiso Nhlabatsi said the Southern African Development Community must strengthen its conflict management strategies in the face of internal conflicts within member states, like Mozambique, by establishing a framework for accountability and ensuring member states are responsible for their impact on regional stability.
